Container with glued cardboard stacking cleats



July 27, 1965 P. D. NoRTHwAY CONTAINER WITH GLUED CARDBOARD STACKING CLEATS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 10, 1964 ,04M wem/WAV INVENTOR.

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drfae/vi/ July 2?, w65 P. D. NoRTHw/w CONTAINER WITH GLUED CARDBOARD STACKING CLEATS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. lO, 1964 Juiy 2?, i965 P. D. NORTE-:WAY

CONTAINER WITH GLUED CARDBOARD STACKING CLEATS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. lO, 1964 ,a W //fw ,w W, 7M W e @Y w M M m M a 2l, m 5 M Z www 3 if. u.. y C 5 w f 6 United States Patent O 3,197,ltl3 CNTNER Wllrl GLUED CARDBARD STASKMG CLEATS Patil D. Northway, Tustin, Calif., assigner to Precision Produce Specialties, Inc., a corporation ot California dan. l0, 1964, Ser. No. 336,97@ 4 Claims. (Cl. 229-23) The present invention relates to a cardboard container having glued cardboard stacking cleats in lieu of the traditional nailed wooden stacking cleats.

Reliable stacking of loaded containers to great heights is a matter of necessity in accordance with present-day commercial requirements. It is therefore a Widely prevailing practice to cover both wooden and cardboard containers with a separate lid having wooden stacking cleats, which cleats are nailed by driving nails into the material of the container beneath the lid. The use of nailed Wooden stacking cleats has been found very satisfactory as a means of making loaded containers stack to great heights, and remain reliably stacked despite large variations in temperature and humidity.

Considerations of economy are also important in the large volume usage of containers. From this standpoint the usage of containers with nailed wooden stacking cleats has not been entirely satisfactory, because tse lid, cleats, and nails represent a substantial materials cost in addition to the cost of the container itself, and the 4processing of the container to nail on the stacking cleats involves an extra step which might not otherwise be necessary. It would, tnerefore, be desirable to eliminate the cost of the wooden stacking cleats and the labor of putting them onto the loaded container.

Another type of container which has been used for many years is known in the trade as the Bliss container. The Bliss container, in its simplest form, is made from a single piece of cardboard having side portions which fold up to maire side walls and side flaps, and end portions which fold up to make end walls and end flaps. There are also additional tabs or iianges which are used for securing the end and side walls together at the four corners of the container. After the container is loaded the side liaps are turned down to close the top of the container, and the end laps are also turned down to fully close the top of the container, and the container is then sealed in some suitable manner. Numerous variations of the Bliss container have been known and used in the past several decades, including, for example, various sizes and locations of the securing tabs or flanges, and also variations in which the end walls and flaps are made from separate pieces or cardboard rather than being integral with the main cardboard sheet.

While the Bliss containers have been used successfully for many purposes they have nevertheless been quite limited as to the reliable height to which they would stack. @ne reason, of course, was the inherent lack of mechanical strength in the internaltstructure of the container. Another reason was the fact that a fully loaded container would frequently bulge upward in the center, making the center of the container higher than its ends, and thus providing an unstable support for any other container stacked on top. Still another cause for unreliable stacking was the fact that, during the conditions of high humidity such as are often encountered in a commercial freezer or refrigerator, thecardboard would become wealtened to the point that any fairly high stack of containers would collapse and fall down.

The principal object or" the present invention, therefore, is to provide a container of economical cost, and which may be economically processed in large volumes, but which is also capable of being reliably stacked to large heights when fully loaded.

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A more speciiic object of the invention is to provide a modified Bliss container capable of reliable stacking.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanyng drawings, wherein:

FlGURE l is an exploded perspective View of the container of the present invention in fully disassembled form;

FlGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the container when assembled and prior to its being loaded;

FlGURE 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of FIGURE 3;

FlGURE 5 is a partial sectional plan view taken on the line 5 5 of FIGURE 4;

lFlGURE 6 is a perspective view of the container after the top has been closed and sealed;

FlGURE 7 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken on the line 7 7 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3 8 of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary view, partially in crosssection, showing two like containers forming a stack; and

FlGURl-E l0 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View of one end wall ofthe container.

Referring now to the drawings, the container lil is seen to comprise a main body piece 2li and end assemblies 4i? and Sil. The main body piece 2t) includes a bottom wall 2l, side walls 24 and 25, side flaps 3l and 32, bottom flanges 22 and 23, and corners flanges 2li, 27, 23, and 29. The various paits of the main body piece 20 are best seen in FGURE 1.

End assembly 4d includes, generally, a sheet 4l which includes an end wall 42 and an end ap 43; and a rectangular wooden insert assembly 45. The outer surface of end wall 42 is identified as 42a while its inner surface is identified as 42h. The inner surface of the end ap or stacking cleat 43 is identified as 43a. Wooden insert assembly 45 includes a rectangular wooden member 46 whose longitudinal upper dat face is identified as 46a while its longitudinal lower face is identified as 4617. An inner paper layer 48 is glued to the wooden member 46 on its inner surface and an outer paper covering 47 is glued to wooden member 46 on its outer surface. The outer paper covering 47' is in turn glued to the inner surface 42h of end wall 42.

End assembly 5d is constructed in the same manner as end assembly 4t), the corresponding parts being identilied by reference numbers in the Sil series rather than in the 4@ series.

The main body piece 2d is adapted to have the various portions thereof fold upward so that the bottom flange 22 folds upward and engages the lower portion of the outer surface of end wall 52, as best seen in FlGURES 3 and 6, being secured thereto by gluing or other suitable means. ln like'manner the corner flanges 25 and 28 told inward and engage the outer surface 52a of end wall 52 near respective ends thereof, being also secured by gluing or other suitable means. ln a similar manner, as shown in FGURES 5 and 8, the bottom flange 23 folds up over and is secured to the lower portion of the outer surface of end wall 42, while corner anges 27 and 2? wrap around the ends of end wall 42 and are secured thereto.

lt will be seen that the container is designed for the side aps 3l and 32 to be folded inwardly before the end flaps or stacking cleats 43 and S3 are folded inwardly. Wooden insert assemblies 4S and 55 are made substantially the same length as the end Walls 42 and 52, but are made of precisely the same height as the side walls 24 and 25. ln the assembled form of the container, theres t tore, the bottom'surfaces 6b and Sb of the wooden insert members 46 and 56, respectively, rest firmly upon the` corresponding ends of the bottom wall 2i, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 7. YWhen the side aps 3l and 32 are folded inward and downward the corresponding ends thereof rest securely upon the upper surfaces 46a and 56a of the wooden insert members.

Since the stacking cleats 43 and 53 fold over on top of the side iiaps 3i and 32, the end walls 4Z and 52 are made higher than their respectively associated wooden 'insert members by the thickness of the side tiaps. Prior to folding down the end aps or stacking cleats, strips of glue are applied to their under surfaces. Thus as best seen in FIGURE 7 the undersurface 53a of stacking cleat 53 is secured to the upper surfaces of the side flaps 31 and 32 by glue strips di and 62;.and the undersurface 43a of stacking cleat 43 is secured to the upper surfaces of side tiaps 31 and 32 by glue strips 63 and 64. The glue strips applied `to the stacking cleat are spaced apart and are aligned parallel to the end walls of the container.

In the main body piece AZtl various perforation lines are used to delineate the various wall and ange sections. Thus a perforation line 33 delineates the side wall 24 from the bottom wall 2i, while aV perforation line 34 marks the common boundary of side wall 25 and bottom wall 21. At the top of side wall 24 a perforation line 35 marks the lower edge of side flap 3i, and a similar perforation line 35 at the ytop of side wall 25 marks the boundary of side flap 32. A pair of perforation lines 37 and 38 also run lengthwise of the'main body piece to delineate the various flanges. Line 37a defines the boundary between flange 26 and side Wall 24; line 37b the boundary between ange 22 and bottom wall 21; Vand line 37C the boundarybetween flange 28 and side wall 25. Line 33a denes the boundarybetween ange 27 and side wall 24; line 38h Vthe boundary between iiange 23 and bottom wall 21; and line 38C the boundary between ilange 29 and side wall 25.

In a similar mannera perforation line 44 delineates end wall42 and stacking cleat 43; and a perforation line 54 the boundary between end wall 52 and stacking cleat 53. j

The nature of the perforation lines is shown in FIG- V URE 10. Thus the perforation line 44 consists of a number ofl individual openings such as 4451,4417, which are cut entirely through the sheet of material di. The openings are cut by means of a tool having a plurality of tapering blade sections, hence the openings are longer on the side from which the cut is made than they are on the other sideof Ythe sheet of material. In accordance with the present'invention the perforation lines are cut on the outside surfaces of the sheets of material, so that the longer sides of the Vcuts are all on the outside surfaces of the container whiie the shorter sides of the cuts are inside the container. Thus as specifically shown in FIGURE l the long sides of the cut openings 44a and 445 are on surface 42a of the end wall 42 while the short sides of these cuts are on the inner surface 42]; of the end wall. t

The orientation of the perforation lines is significant from the standpoint of achieving sharp corners in the closed configuration of the container, such as shown in FIGURES 6, 7, S, and 9. It has been found that by making the longer sides of the cuts on the outside surface of the material, the tendency of the material to spring back toy itsOriginal position after it is folded is substantially eliminated. Y

A significant advantage of the .invention is that the V,stacking cleats 43 and 53 may be glued and turnedV down into place by automatic, high-speed machinery, vwithout the necessity of hand labor, and without the necessity 4of a separaterprocess in addition to the usual process of closing the top of the loaded container. In Vother words, fastening down the stacking cleats of the container is accomplished as an integral part of the process of closing the top of the container. in the loaded and sealed container, as best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, the height of the ends and 4corners of the container is very reliably established. More specifically, the height of the container at these points corresponds to the height of the wooden insert members 46 and 56, plus the thickness of the bottom wall 2l at its ends, plus the thickness of the side flaps 31 and 32 at their ends, plus the thickness of the stacking cleats 43 and 53. Fully loaded containers of this configuration may be stacked to large heights, such as twenty or more containers in a stack, and the stack maintains itself in a very reliable fashion.

While the end walls and stacking cleats could be formed from the same main body piece as the bottom wall, side walls, and side flaps, that would require the use of a larger blank and would involve unnecessary wastage of material. Y

The container of the present invention has a number of openings formed in the bottom wall, side walls, and side flaps, as is conventional, and which `are not specifically designated by reference numerals in the drawings.

The invention has been described in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent laws by providing a full public disclosure Vof at least one of its forms. However, such detailed description is not intended in any way to limit the broad features or principles of the invention, or the scope of patent monopoly to be granted.

' I claim:

il. A 'generally rectangular container comprising, in combination:

a cardboard bottom wall;

cardboard side walls having respective side flaps integral therewith; cardboard end walls having respective end flaps integral therewith; t

and a pair of rectangular wooden inserts;

said end walls being higher than said side walls by the thickness of said side flaps; Y

said wooden inserts each being substantially the length of Said end walls and exactly the height of said side walls, each being secured to the inner surface of an associated end wall and firmly supported by the adjacent end of said bottom wall;

said side flaps being adapted to fold inward and down- V ward with their ends resting upon said wooden inserts, and being of suilicient height to substantially close the top of said container when they are thus folded;

said end aps being of a height which is of a lesser order of magnitude than the length of said container and being adapted to fold over upon, and be sealed to, said folded side flaps to thereby serve as stacking cleats;

the height of said container at its ends and corners t being then precisely establishedby the height of said wooden inserts and by the thicknesses of said bottom wall, the ends of said side aps, and said stacking cleats, Y

2. A container as claimed in claim l which includes a main sheet of material which is foldable along parallel lines to provide said bottom wall, said side walls and said side flaps; said main sheet of material further including a pair of bottom anges which extend from respective ends of said bottom wall and are foldable upward for securement to the outer lower surfaces of the respective end walls, and two pairs of corner iianges which extend outward from respective ends of said side walls and are foldable inward for securement to the outer surfaces or" said end walls adjacent the ends thereof.

3. A container as claimed in claim'l wherein each of said end walls has a perforation line delineating said end Vwall from the associated end flap; said perforation line including a plurality of longitudinally spaced cuts through the cardboard material, each cut being of greater length 5 0n the outside surface of said end wall than on the inside surface thereof.

4. A generally rectangular container comprising, in combination:

a cardboard bottom wall; cardboard side Walls having respective side flaps integral therewith; cardboard end walls having respective end aps integral therewith; and a pair of rectangular wooden inserts; said end Walls being higher than said side Walls by the thickness of said side ilaps; said Wooden inserts each being substantially the length of said end Walls and exactly the height of said side walls, each being secured to the inner surface of an associated end wall and firmly supported by the adjacent end of said bottom wall; said side aps being folded inward and downward with their ends resting upon said Wooden inserts, and substantially closing the top of said container;

said end flaps being of a height which is of a lesser order of magnitude than the length of said container and being folded over upon said folded side aps, and glued thereto by at least one glue strip extending the length of each end flap, to thereby serve as stacking cleats;

the height of said container at its ends and corners being precisely established by the height of said Wooden inserts and by the thicknesses of said bottom wall ends, said side ap ends, and said stacking cleats.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/42 Boeye 229-23 2/ 5 8 Elmerdorf 229--23 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,249,818 11/60 France.

20 FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. 

1. A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR CONTAINER COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: AW CARDBOARD BOTTOM WALL; CARDBOARD SIDE WALLS HAVING RESPECTIVE SIDE FLAPS INTEGRAL THEREWITH; CARDBOARD END WALLS HAVING RESPECTIVE END FLAPS INTEGRAL THEREWITH; AND A PAIR OF RECTANGULAR WOODEN INSERTS; SAID END WALLS BEING HIGHER THAN SAID SIDE WALLS BY THE THICKNESS OF SAID SIDE FLAPS; SAIDS WOODEN INSERTS EACH BEING SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF SAID END WALLS AND EXACTLY THE HEIGHT OF SAID SIDE WALLS, EACH BEING SECURED TO THE INNER SURFACE OF AN ASSOCIATED END WALL AND FIRMLY SUPPORTED BY THE ADJACENT END OF SAID BOTTOM WALL; SAID SIDE FLAPS BEING ADAPTED TO FOLD INWARD AND DOWNWARD WITH THEIR ENDS RESTING UPON SAID WOODEN INSERTS AND BEING OF SUFFICIENT HEIGHT TO SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSE THE TOP OF SAID CONTAINER WHEN THEY ARE THUS FOLDED; SAID END FLAPS BEING OF A HEIGHT WHICH IS OF A LESSLER ORDER OF MAGNITUDE THAN THE LENGTH OF SAID CONTAINER, AND BEING ADAPTED TO FOLD OVER UPON, AND BE SEALED TO, SAID FOLDED SIDE FLAPS TO THEREBY SERVE AS STACKING CLEATS; THE HEIGHT OF SAID CONTAINER AT ITS ENDS AND CORNERS BEING THEN PRECISELY ESTABLISHED BY THE HEIGHT OF SAID WOODEN INSERTS AND BY THE THICKNESS OF SAID BOTTOM WALL, THE ENDS OF SAID SIDE FLAPS, AND SAID STACKING CLEATS. 